The seven-member board, led by bank President Julio
Velarde, maintained the overnight rate at 4 percent for a fourth
straight month, matching the estimates of all 21 economists
surveyed by Bloomberg.

Policy makers on March 1 cut the reserve requirement ratio
for the seventh time in eight months to boost lending as falling
copper and gold exports damp private investment. Annual
inflation quickened to 3.78 percent last month from 3.07 percent
in January, as food costs rose. Consumer prices are under
control and the economy doesn’t need more stimulus as mining
output picks up, Velarde said in a March 6 interview.

“Inflation is forecast to remain close to the upper limit
of the target range initially because of the lag effect of
supply shocks and to subsequently trend to 2 percent,” policy
makers said in their statement posted on the central bank’s
website.

Peru’s economy expanded 5.3 percent last year, the slowest
pace since 2009, after a slump in exports from the world’s
third-largest copper producer sparked slowdowns in construction
and retailing.

Policy makers said they are “ready to consider additional
monetary policy measures if needed,” according to their
statement posted on the central bank’s website.

‘Private Investment’

Growth last year was revised up from 5 percent last week
after the statistics agency changed its method for calculating
gross domestic product.

Exports fell 18 percent in January from the year earlier as
copper and gold sales plunged, leaving the Andean nation with a
record trade deficit of $740 million, the statistics agency said
March 10.

South America’s sixth-largest economy probably expanded 4.9
percent in January, after 5 percent growth in December,
according the median estimate of 12 analysts in a Bloomberg
survey. The agency is scheduled to release the data tomorrow.

The central bank forecasts economic growth of 6 percent
this year and inflation of about 2 percent, Velarde said in a
Feb. 3 interview.

“The export decline in January was much more due to prices
than volumes so it shouldn’t affect GDP growth,” said Pablo
Nano, an economist at Scotiabank Peru in Lima. “Imports are
likely to recover in the second half of the year as private
investment is gradually recovering.”